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So in my last post, I talked a lot about my personal journey on becoming a Community Manager in the gaming industry. Looking back and wanting to provide something for the community, I wanted to make a posting with some actual practical steps that can be taken from my story.

1. Be Active, if even on a volunteer basis.

I started out by just volunteering my time on a forum. Others I know started by writing reviews on community gaming sites. Being active and staying involved helps to show a passion towards being part of a community and the industry.

2. Get on Twitter/Facebook & Network!

If you’re not using Social Media (Twitter – Facebook – Google+, etc.), you should be. Brands and their respective Community Managers all use these as tools to reach their audience. Most of them also have their own accounts that can be followed. …

Growing up as a kid, we all have had our dream jobs and careers. I used to want to be a Paleontologist and discover some new dinosaur. At one point I wanted to be involved in the comic book industry, but my art was terrible, so I thought maybe I could ink (and in the words of Kevin Smith’s “Chasing Amy” film, it’s just tracing!).

I’ve spoke about how I started playing video games at a young age with the Nintendo Entertainment System, and while I never quite had a moment in life where I knew I wanted to work in the gaming industry like Cliff Bleszinski, I just didn’t think there was an actually opportunity to walk down that path.

in 2008, I had been part of a group of gamers from my church who played Halo 3 and Gears of War almost nightly. One of them had recently …

By now, we all know the power of social media, and just some of the stories that were picked up by the media in which customer’s posted to media outlets in order to receive coverage and attention to what was going on. There was the AirBNB scandal where a customer trashed and robbed a home-owner in San Francisco. There’s also the Ocean Marketing blunder where the PR representative/”CEO” went off on not only the customer, but also Mike, the co-creator of Penny-Arcade and received tons of backlash from the gaming community.

No, my story was not covered like that, but it did gain a response from CustomSLR today. Around 3 hours ago, CustomSLR posted this to the comments section …

So here I am in November 2011. I’ve been traveling and shooting photography quite a bit for my new job as a Community Manager at ASTRO Gaming. Taking shots of Pro Gamers, company booths, and just the interactions between the gaming audience at major events like Penny-Arcade Expo, E3, and MLG tournaments. I hear about a new product launching from a new start-up company that I became familiar with through a local “SJ Made” / “SJ Eats” food festival.

CustomSLR was started by two brothers, Ben Wong and Ivan Wong, who desired to make a product that would allow DSLR cameras to be used in an easy gripping motion, but not held by the typical strap locations. They produced their C-Loop, which is similar to various other products on the market, where it moves the strap process …

Someone recently posted on the ASTRO Gaming Forums informing us that he was licking his controller cable before inserting it into his MixAmp for a better connection… It so reminded me of the weird “viral” happenstance of my youth.

It’s the classic example of how my fellow youth of the 80s ruined their Nintendo Entertainment Systems.

Backstory: The NES had some inherit fault with it, where after about 2-3 years of usage, it wouldn’t always read games. Once it powered on, it would produce a black screen and a blinking red light.

Some where, some kid came up with the idea that if he breathed hot air on the metal connection port of his 8Bit NES cartridge game, that it would help the console read it better (I guess water + electricity?). This spread like wildfire (even without the internet) and basically every kid who had a NES that was …

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About Me

Randall Wong is an avid video gamer, aspiring musician, worship leader, photographer, and Web & Tech enthusiast. He loves ginger ale, first person shooters, and his wife, Joyce and their two beautiful daughters.

He previously worked for ASTRO Gaming, the premiere video game equipment company as the Community Manager. He continues to work in the gaming industry as a Social Media and Marketing Consultant for various brands.

This is a personal weblog. The opinions expressed here my own and not those of my employers.
You can follow his daily adventures, antics, and rants on Twitter: @randallw.